This is how technology influences the family

This is how technology influences the family

Parents see the arrival of smartphones too early for minors

   The smartphone, the tablet, the console, the laptops and now the smart speakers are already one more member of the family, which, in some cases, generate tension and in others reduce the digital divide between generations.

This is one of the conclusions of the study 'Impact of screens on family life'. The appropriate age for the 'first screen' is 10 years , as expressed by the families surveyed by GAD3 and Empantallados. That first technological friend is usually a tablet.

Three years later, at 13, the first mobile phone arrives in the pockets of minors, although for four out of ten parents "arrived too early". In addition, one out of every three parents interviewed acknowledges that they are overusing technology and do not recognize themselves as a good model for their children.

  The use and time is one of the main conflicts for 74% of families who think that technology has linked them little with their children, although six out of ten recognizes that "screens are having a favorable role in the management of family activity ».

74% of families think that technology has linked them little with their children, although six out of ten recognizes their "favorable role"

The report of Empantallados and GAD3 highlights that three quarters of the families surveyed have rules for using the screens, most of them with activity schedules with the devices or prohibition of their use in certain places. Leave the phone or bring the tablet are widely used orders in Spanish families.

These discussions occur for almost two out of ten families during meals. "They are everyday scenes that easily become the center of conflicts and pose, at the same time, the need to establish technological control measures in the home, " explains the same work, "the report explains.

The dependence of the screens, especially the mobile, increases 33% of the adolescents use the smartphone at night in bed. The experts of Empantallado recommend that the youngest avoid sleeping with the cell phone next door either, because "it helps that we catch it at night to enter the Internet, or that we are aware of the messages that arrive".

They also suggest "disable notifications on the mobile, from the home screen: we are not aware of the amount of time and mental efficiency we lose by being constantly alert."

"The traditional punishment that was' Son, if you misbehave you will not leave 'has changed to' Son, as you behave badly I take you out on the street but without the cell phone and without the screens. It is the biggest threat to adolescents at this moment, "said Narciso Michavila, president of GAD3.